Home   Sport   Article

Forres Mechanics missing key men for North of Scotland Cup tie against Rothes but manager Charlie Rowley wants Cans to bounce back from Formartine United league defeat


By Jonathan Clark

Easier access to your trusted, local news. Subscribe to a digital package and support local news publishing.



Click here to sign up to our free newsletters!

FORRES Mechanics manager Charlie Rowley is seeking an improvement in his side’s performance tonight as they host Rothes in the North of Scotland Cup first round.

Forres Mechanics manager Charlie Rowley. Picture: Daniel Forsyth
Forres Mechanics manager Charlie Rowley. Picture: Daniel Forsyth

The Cans were comfortably beaten in the league by Formartine United at North Lodge Park on Saturday, going down to a 4-1 defeat.

While an improved showing is expected tonight, Rowley will be without several first team players as injury and unavailability issues kick in just two weeks into the campaign.

The Mechanics boss said: “Formartine deserved to win on Saturday, they were a good bit better than us in certain areas.

“Our intention was to get something out the game, but when you concede a penalty within 50 seconds it makes your task harder. It was a really disappointing start.

“Credit to the boys, we got back into it and a goal before half-time gave us something to build on, but we never created as much as we wanted. It’s disappointing but we need to regroup because the Rothes game comes around quickly.”

After Jonny Crawford’s first minute penalty gave Formartine the lead on Saturday, Kevin Hanratty doubled the home side’s advantage on the half hour.

Second half goals from Andrew Greig and Tyler Mykyta – a great free-kick – rounded off the home side’s scoring.

The Mechanics goal was scored towards the end of the first half by Ross MacPherson, but ‘Chucky’ is one of those set to miss tonight’s match, which has been rescheduled from last Wednesday.

Ross MacPherson misses Mechanics' cup clash. Picture: Daniel Forsyth..
Ross MacPherson misses Mechanics' cup clash. Picture: Daniel Forsyth..

Rowley added: “I got told at the weekend (about the rescheduled match).

“Chucky is booked to go away, so from that point of view it’s not ideal.

“Stuart Soane and Dale Wood are suspended, Graham Fraser is out, as are Joe Gauld, Gordon McNab and Craig Dorrat.

Martin Groat and Paul Brindle will be missing against Strathspey on Saturday.

“We started the season with the strongest numbers in years, but that has been wiped out.

“The young ones will get a chance and we’ll be looking for an improvement as we are a good bit off where we want to be.”

There will be a minute’s silence in memory of Rothes secretary Garry Davies before kick-off tonight.


Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.



This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More